James Pearce has said in the wake of Liverpool’s 6-1 drubbing of Leeds on Monday night that Curtis Jones gave ‘his best performance for the club’.
The 22-year-old grabbed an assist at Elland Road, breaking through a couple of challenges from the home side before producing a sublime pass to set up Diogo Jota’s first goal, which put the Reds 3-1 in front and quickly answered Luis Sinisterra’s strike at the other end.
Having started only one Premier League all season prior to this month, the Anfield academy product has now been selected for three games in a row by Jurgen Klopp (Transfermarkt), and that renewed show of faith seems to have brought out the best in him.
Writing in a matchday Q&A for The Athletic, Pearce stated after the final whistle: “What a thoroughly enjoyable evening. Didn’t see that coming after such a dour opening half hour but then Liverpool came alive.
“So many positives. TAA looking so comfortable in that new role, Jones producing his best performance for the club, Jota energised after ending that long drought, Salah so involved, so lethal, and Nunez scoring off the bench. Plus Diaz comeback.”
Drilling down into the numbers behind the 22-year-old’s display, it’s easy to see why the journalist was so impressed.
As per Sofascore, Jones won a staggering 11 duels against Leeds – the most of anyone on the night – also coming out on top in five tackles, succeeding with all four of his dribble attempts and completing 89% of his passes and all three of his long balls.
It was a tremendous performance both in and out of possession, earning him a Sofascore rating of 7.9 – by far his highest of the season to date.
Some may have been surprised to see him starting given Thiago’s return to fitness – Pearce himself admitted before the game that he had expected the Spaniard to be preferred – but the 22-year-old more than vindicated Klopp’s decision to go with him from the first whistle.
The Liverpool academy graduate has had to endure a lengthy spell out of the team, but performances like last night offer plenty of encouragement that he could yet have a big part to play in the final few weeks of the campaign.